The association that runs the recreation center where Germany’s consul in Costa Rica died on Saturday has disputed the account that circulated internationally in the hours afterward, saying Mario Genz was swimming in the lagoon rather than riding in a kayak. The Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de Río Cuarto, which administers the Centro Recreativo La Laguna, issued a statement to correct what it described as versions circulating in the media and on social networks.
It said Genz was engaged in a swimming activity in the lagoon at the moment the emergency occurred, and that he was a certified diver and a frequent visitor to the Laguna de Río Cuarto, where he regularly swam and dived. The association said that once staff became aware of the emergency, they acted immediately, removing him from the water and activating the site’s emergency response protocol.
It stressed that the medical causes and circumstances of the death must be determined exclusively by the competent authorities and asked for restraint regarding speculation circulating about the case. Out of respect for his family and for German diplomatic authorities in Costa Rica, it said it would not comment further. Much of the international coverage on Saturday and Sunday reported that Genz died after a kayak he was navigating overturned.
The Fire Department has not described a kayak. It said it received an alert to rescue a submerged 53-year-old adult at the site, and that Genz had been underwater for at least 30 minutes. Crews from the Fire Department and the Costa Rican Red Cross found him without vital signs and brought him out near the center’s dock, where they carried out basic and advanced resuscitation. He was declared dead at the scene.
Emergency services received the alert in the early afternoon. The Red Cross sent three ambulances and a first-response vehicle. Authorities have opened an investigation to establish the cause of death. No findings have been released. Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the death publicly on Saturday, offering condolences to Genz’s family and to his colleagues at the German Embassy and Consulate in San José, and saying it would provide the necessary support in coordination with Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and the embassy.
Genz was 53 and originally from Mannheim, in southwestern Germany. His diplomatic career took him to Florida, where he served as vice consul in the mid-2000s, and to Colombia, where he worked as cultural and press attaché before his posting to San José. He was a serious athlete. The German Embassy in Costa Rica noted publicly that he had won gold in the 5,000 meters in the 50-and-over category at Costa Rica’s national Masters track and field championship, and described him as someone who enjoyed diving, consular casework and time with his two children.
He posted footage of a diving expedition to Isla del Coco and images from a cycling competition on publicly accessible social media accounts. His wife, Isabell Genz, also serves as a consul at the German Embassy. The embassy has described the arrangement publicly as a job share, with each holding the post at 50 percent.
The Centro Recreativo La Laguna sits on the shore of the Laguna de Río Cuarto in the northern part of Alajuela province, roughly 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of San José. The lagoon draws families and day visitors for swimming, kayaking and diving, and is one of the better-known outdoor destinations in the region.
Costa Rica records a significant share of its drownings each year in open water without lifeguards on duty. Experience in the water is not a reliable protection against it, and the country’s water rescue services have long noted that strong swimmers and trained divers appear regularly among the dead.
